I'm going to be upgrading my front stage soon. Wanted some opinions on which route to go. I will be buying a decent 4 channel amp (haven't decided which one yet) that puts out at least 125 watts per channel @4ohm. I'm either just going to:

1. buy a set of 6.5" components ($300 budget) and bridge the amp to provide 300+ watts per side using the passive crossover.

or

2. run an active setup tweets and mids amped on seperate channels

My current head unit does not have the ability to run active, but the amp I buy will have sufficient crossover adjustments. i also may upgrade the headunit or get a processor in the future.

if I decide to run passive I was thinking of picking up a set of these speakers:
Image Dynamics CXS64 v.2 6-1/2" Chameleon Component Speakers System (http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22325_Image-Dynamics-CXS64-v.2.html)

if I decide to run active I will either use those^ speakers without the crossovers, or save some money and buy something like silver flute mids and vifa ne25vt tweeters

what do you guys recommend?

mlstrass

11-10-2013, 05:16 AM

go active and pick your own mids/tweets. Plenty of proven combos over on diyma to fit any budget...

blakgtp

11-10-2013, 03:23 PM

go active and pick your own mids/tweets. Plenty of proven combos over on diyma to fit any budget...

this is what I'm leaning towards. silver flute or dayton rs180 mids, and vifa, seas tweets etc. I've never ran active before off of just the amp crossover though, I've only done it from a clarion cz702 headunit. Are the crossovers reliable on the amp? I'm looking at the crescendo c1100.4, incriminator audio IA6.4, or even a PPI P900.4

Ppi 900.4 is a great amp and has a great crossover setup for 2 way active without needing a active hu

blakgtp

11-10-2013, 04:09 PM

Ppi 900.4 is a great amp and has a great crossover setup for 2 way active without needing a active hu

I've heard it's a pretty solid amp for the price. I'm just wondering when I set the crossover, do you just have to guess approximately where it should be on the dial, or do you play test tones or something? I've never actively crossed from the amp crossover before, only from a headunit

SounDrive

11-10-2013, 04:11 PM

I'm going to be upgrading my front stage soon. Wanted some opinions on which route to go. I will be buying a decent 4 channel amp (haven't decided which one yet) that puts out at least 125 watts per channel @4ohm. I'm either just going to:

1. buy a set of 6.5" components ($300 budget) and bridge the amp to provide 300+ watts per side using the passive crossover.

or

2. run an active setup tweets and mids amped on seperate channels

My current head unit does not have the ability to run active, but the amp I buy will have sufficient crossover adjustments. i also may upgrade the headunit or get a processor in the future.

if I decide to run passive I was thinking of picking up a set of these speakers:
Image Dynamics CXS64 v.2 6-1/2" Chameleon Component Speakers System (http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_22325_Image-Dynamics-CXS64-v.2.html)

if I decide to run active I will either use those^ speakers without the crossovers, or save some money and buy something like silver flute mids and vifa ne25vt tweeters

what do you guys recommend?

I have a PPI 900.4 on Silver flute 6.5s and Vifa XT25 tweeters, with a clarion CZ702 head unit. Sounds amazing and gets extremely loud, it's honestly too loud for my 145db substage

blakgtp

11-10-2013, 10:21 PM

I have a PPI 900.4 on Silver flute 6.5s and Vifa XT25 tweeters, with a clarion CZ702 head unit. Sounds amazing and gets extremely loud, it's honestly too loud for my 145db substage

that's great man. I'm prepared to buy the silver flutes or dayton rs 180's and vifa tweets. Just wondering how I would go about using the amp crossover if I don't have a headunit that can run active?

SounDrive

11-10-2013, 10:50 PM

that's great man. I'm prepared to buy the silver flutes or dayton rs 180's and vifa tweets. Just wondering how I would go about using the amp crossover if I don't have a headunit that can run active?

It's pretty simple. Set the switch to the bandpass filter (BPF) option on the mids and set your LPF and HPF for those channels. Then, use the HPF option for the tweeter channels and set the HPF up. The HPF/LPF knobs are marked with the frequencies and theres also 1X/10X button. For example, if you want to set your tweet's HPF at 2.5kHz, you'll make sure the button is on 10X and you'll set the HPF knob to 250.

I prefer to be running active at the deck so I can mess with the settings, but going active at the amp works just fine as well.

http://www.precisionpower.com/html-version/images/P900-4/2L.jpg

trumpet

11-11-2013, 11:27 AM

You'd get better results with an active capable head unit than just relying on the crossovers of a P900.4. I would keep your speakers running passive until you get an active head unit.

About bridging a 4-channel amp for components, take it slow and stick to a more reasonable amount of power. 300W+ per side is definitely possible to run safely, but there are dangers of running that much power. There's also the very important consideration of what music you listen to. I know the music I listen to most only has a crest factor of around 6-7 dB, so for that kind of music there's no real need to drastically exceed the thermal capacity of my speakers with amplifier headroom. Most of the excess power would go to waste. When I do listen to high crest factor music I think it sounds amazing, and right now I have 85W RMS per channel in the front.

blakgtp

11-11-2013, 02:47 PM

thanks for all the helpful info guys! I ended up ordering a clarion cz702, ppi p900.4, silver flute 6.5" mids, and vifa ne25vta tweeters. I like the fact that with the headunit I can set the crossover points more precisely. It's a little more reassuring